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This is what Labour can learn about winning an election from Macron's victory in France

A positive, modern political movement with a refusal to pander to nativists and nationalists is the best way to get rid of this incompetent Tory government

Chuka Umunna
Tuesday 09 May 2017 15:34 BST
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The French President-elect appears to have stemmed the tide of right-wing populism in Europe
The French President-elect appears to have stemmed the tide of right-wing populism in Europe

There is no doubt the last few years have felt like dark times for the British left. From the gut punch of the last general election, to the despair of the EU referendum result, to the intensely disappointing local elections last week, the centre left in Britain has been on the back foot for too long. Many people across our country are no doubt wondering if we can ever snap out of this defensive posture.

Emmanuel Macron’s overwhelming mandate for the French presidency at the weekend shows that we can, and that the retreat of centre-left ideals is far from inevitable. Indeed it proves that the ideas of the centre left – openness, internationalism, solidarity – remain compelling and relevant.

It is worth first acknowledging the scale of Macron’s achievement. In an age characterised in part by angry nativism, he stood on a pro-immigration platform – and won. Amid fears of Brexit “contagion” sweeping the continent, and in an increasingly Eurosceptic country, he spoke up passionately for the European ideal – and won. He stood up against Russian bullying, was hacked and smeared as a result – and he still won.

And all this in a country which should not be fertile ground for progressives; France has a youth unemployment rate of 24 per cent, and 61 per cent of the population hold an unfavourable view of the European Union. If the politics of Macron and his En Marche! movement can win in France, they can undoubtedly find favour in Britain.

French crowd goes wild as Macron is announced election winner

So what can we learn specifically? Macron’s style is unashamedly optimistic and future-focused. He has not shied away from confronting the real economic issues facing France – addressing the real world, not the world as some would like it to be – and has proposed concrete policies to increase investment with a €50bn stimulus package to build an economy that works better for working people.

He is passionately pro-European, but is not afraid to lead an agenda for reform to make the bloc work better for its citizens. He is pro-immigration, and supportive of taking in refugees fleeing persecution, in contrast to the shameful inaction of the current British government. On foreign policy, he is tough on Russia and rejects any apologias for terrorism.

It is a pragmatic but appealing policy platform that has clearly appealed to people across the political spectrum, weaving together the two golden threads of economic competence and social justice. Above all, he presented a progressive platform with confidence and conviction, resisting the temptation to pander to the hard right and to anti-immigration sentiment. He realises, as should we all, that delivering for working people is best done by measures to create jobs and increase opportunity, rather than adopting a hard line on immigration that would damage the economy.

Of course France and Britain are very different places, with some challenges in common but many specific issues of our own. For example, we would not want to cut the numbers of public sector workers, or further liberalise our employment laws, as the new French President has advocated. The French party system is much more hospitable to political start-ups like En Marche! than the first-past-the-post model used in Britain. In Canada, which uses the same electoral system as the UK, Justin Trudeau has achieved Macron-like success through the established Liberal Party rather than setting up any new movement.

On this side of the Channel, it is the Labour Party which has always been and remains still the greatest vehicle for the advancement of working people. Our party has much to learn from Macron’s success, but the value of splits is not one of them. Only Labour can deliver the forward-looking, progressive agenda Britain requires.

There is no doubt such an agenda is desperately needed. Theresa May’s government has interpreted the decision of 52 per cent of the people to leave the European Union as a mandate for a destructive, chaotic form of Brexit, which would wrench our country out of the single market and put jobs at risk. She seems sanguine about the nightmare scenario of Brexit with no deal at all, which would leave our businesses facing crippling barriers to trade that would harm our economy.

Her reckless and incompetent diplomacy – accusing EU leaders of interfering in the election being just the latest example – is dragging the good name of Britain through the mud internationally. And she is apparently set on keeping the absurd and unachievable “tens of thousands” migration cap. The Prime Minister responsible for the “Go home” vans, and who was an accomplice to the smear campaign against Sadiq Khan, is dividing our country rather than uniting it. She promises strength and stability, but all we have seen from her brief premiership is weakness, instability and ignorance.

We need to get rid of this incompetent Tory government as soon as possible. The lesson of Emmanuel Macron’s victory is that a positive, modern political movement, focused on real solutions to the problems facing working people in our country, allied to strong leadership and a refusal to pander to nativists and nationalists, is the best way of doing so.

Chuka Umunna is the Labour candidate for Streatham and chairs Vote Leave Watch

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